Late or Never
by Fate Okumura
Summary: Hogwarts AU! It's the night of the Yule Ball and Alfred F. Jones, Hogwart's Triwizard Champion, has been waiting for a long time for his partner to show up. But considering that Arthur Kirkland had never even given him a straight answer, will he even bother to show up? Oneshot. Lame title is lame


**Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to the awesome Hidekaz Himaruya and Harry Potter belongs to the equally awesome J.K Rowling**

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Snow glittered on the front grounds and the frozen lake reflected a bright, pearly moon. High above it stood Hogwarts castle, its many towers and battlements piercing the evening winter sky. Bright light flooded the windows and there was an air of celebration. A large crowd of students, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang alike, were gathered in the entrance hall, waiting for the doors to the Great Hall to finally open. Loud chatter and laughter filled the air as everyone met up with their respective partners and while others still continued to search for theirs.

A boy with sandy blond hair with a cowlick at the front and dressed in black dress robes sat on the lowest step of the staircase leading down to the entrance hall, bright blue eyes behind a pair of glasses darting nervously between faces. He was fidgeting with his wand on his lap and was trying hard to still the jittery nervousness in his chest. He glanced at his wristwatch, sighed and craned his neck to see at the far end of the entrance hall where a few Beauxbatons students were just making their way in.

"Hey Alfred!"

Alfred turned to face who had called him and saw his brother, Matthew, running towards him, dressed in black dress robes almost similar to his. Matthew smiled shyly as he stopped in front of Alfred. "Still hasn't arrived yet, I guess?"

Alfred sighed and smiled nervously. "Actually, he didn't tell me if he was coming or not. He kind of left me hanging there and I'm not entirely sure if he said no."

"Oh. Well," Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "He'll come around soon enough. You'll see." He offered an encouraging smile at Alfred, who returned it with a grin. "Thanks, Matt."

Right at that moment, Professor Rome called out from somewhere in the crowd, "Champions and your partners, come over here now please! _Grazie_!"

Matthew and Alfred exchanged wide-eyed looks. "Well," Matthew laughed nervously. "That's you, Al. And well, me, if you count the partners."

Alfred shook his head, now looking even tenser than before. "But he isn't here yet. I have to wait for him!"

Matthew stared nervously after the Durmstrang champion who had just passed them with his partner. "Yes but, shouldn't we be going over there now?"

"Rome said 'Champions and your partners'." Alfred said, latching onto the first thing that had come into his head. "And in case you haven't noticed, I don't have my partner right now. You can go over there now if you want. I'm sure Francis'll be waiting for you."

Matthew shook his head as he looked around nervously. Everyone was now walking forward, making their way into the Great Hall, whose doors had just been flung open.

"Ah Alfred! There you are!" Professor Rome grinned at him as he approached, dressed in loud dress robes of bright yellow, which nobody had the heart to tell him looked horrible. "You have to go over and wait by the door now. The champions will be marching in to the Great Hall right after everybody else."

His eyes found Matthew who smiled anxiously at him. "What are you still doing here, um…what was your name again?" He said apologetically.

"Um, Matthew, sir. Matthew Williams." Matthew replied shyly.

"Oh yes, right. Anyways Mr. Wingham, you are partners with Mr. Bonnefoy, _si_?"

"Er…yes."

"Well he is waiting for you at the door. You better go and meet him."

"O-Okay, sir." Matthew said. He glanced apologetically at Alfred before running off.

"As for you Mr. Jones, where is _your_ partner?" Rome said, arms crossed over his chest.

"Um, well…" Alfred scratched the back of his head. "That's the thing, sir. He isn't here yet."

Rome's eyes widened and in a voice that carried all over the entrance hall said, "Are you telling me that he has ditched you right before the Ball? Oh how tragic!"

"No, no!" Alfred said quickly. "Th-That's not it, professor. I think he just may be…a little late."

Rome nodded his head and sighed. "Oh well. Come along. You can wait for him by the door."

Alfred sighed as he followed Rome to the doors of the Great Hall. He gave a small smile to Francis and Matthew, who were already lined up on one side of the door behind the Durmstrang champion and his partner. Matthew returned Alfred's smile nervously while Francis took one look at Alfred without his partner and started smirking.

"All right, champions!" Rome appeared at the front of the line and clapped his hands together, positively beaming. "Right after we've got everyone settled down in the Great Hall, you'll all be walking in and then…well, just follow me and Professor Germania here, _si?" _He placed a hand on the shoulder of a rather sulky-looking Professor Germania, who glared at Rome and shook his hand off his shoulder, which wasn't an easy feat for most students, who found it nearly impossible to lift Rome's heavy hand off their heads and their shoulders.

Alfred wasn't paying attention however. He was craning his neck to see through the crowd of students slowly making their way into the Great Hall. He recognized a few faces. There was Feliciano with Ludwig, his grumpy-looking brother Lovino with a smiling Antonio, Elizaveta with Roderich both dressed elegantly, a blushing Lilli with her even redder in the face partner Vash, a shy Kiku with a vacant-looking Herakles and even a cheerful, smiling Tino with a stoic, blank-faced Berwald.

But Alfred just couldn't find the person he had been looking for for nearly half an hour now.

Slowly, the crowd in the entrance hall began to thin as everybody was assembling in the Great Hall and before long, only the champions with their partners were left.

"Right." Profesor Germania said sternly, hands on his hips. He nodded towards the Durmstrang champion. "Durmstrang? Got your partner?"

The boy nodded his head and smirked smugly at some of his schoolmates in the Great Hall, who grinned at him and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Beauxbatons? Everything set?" Germania nodded towards Francis and Matthew.

Francis smiled and hooked his arm through Matthew's, who looked absolutely flustered. "Yes, Professor." Francis said.

"Which leaves…" Germania walked slowly towards Alfred, who smiled at him nervously. The stoic professor narrowed his eyes at the Gryffindor. "Where's your partner, boy?"

"Um well, you see here, professor…He's-"

"Right here."

Alfred jumped and stared wide-eyed at the boy who had just appeared beside him. His mouth dropped open and he stared. "A-Arthur?"

The boy glared at him. "Yes, Alfred. It's me." He had bright blond hair, emerald green eyes and wore dark green dress robes that, Alfred couldn't help but notice, accented his lean figure quite well.

"Well?" Arthur said huffily, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Alfred.

"I-I, um…" Alfred glanced at Germania, who sighed, nodded his head and walked back up to the front of the line where Rome was waiting. Alfred sighed and turned to face Arthur.

"Where have you been?!" He hissed, sounding more relieved than angry that Arthur had decided to come.

Arthur blushed right down from his neck and looked away. "I…I was working up the nerve."

Alfred blinked. "For what?"

Arthur glared at him. "To show up, of course!"

Alfred still looked confused. "But-"

Right at that moment, there was the resounding noise of applause and before either of them even knew it, Rome was pushing them forward into the Great Hall.

Before Arthur could protest, Alfred had grabbed his hand and was squeezing it. Alfred smiled as he and Arthur followed Francis and Matthew down a long aisle towards the far end of the room, where the judges for the tournament sat at a table.

Cheers and applause rang in Arthur's ears. He stared blankly straight ahead, not knowing what else to do. He wasn't used to this kind of thing, especially when he was there, holding hands with Alfred. He had to admit, the yank did look good in his dress robes. Actually, more than good. He was absolutely gorgeous. But of course, Arthur wasn't about to admit that, much less out loud.

The champions and their partners arrived at a cleared out space in the room where they all lined up and faced their partners for the dance.

Alfred grinned at Arthur as he placed his right hand on Arthur's waist and held his hand with his left. Arthur glared at him but couldn't stop the blush from spreading to his cheeks.

Waltz music suddenly played and Arthur found himself being spun and led around by Alfred, who had to stop himself from bursting out in laughter at the horrified look on Arthur's face.

Arthur had as much grace in dancing as a fish out of water. He kept stepping on Alfred's toes (never bothering to apologize, of course) and going the wrong way. He knew he looked awkward and ridiculous and all throughout the whole experience he wished that it would end soon. The only good thing that came from it was the fact that Alfred was there, holding him by the waist, leading him along the dance, grinning at him in the way that Arthur had always liked.

Very soon, people started to join into the dance. The first pair to do so was Roderich and Elizaveta. Then Ludwig and Feliciano, who exclaimed that it looked like fun before dragging a blushing Ludwig out onto the dance floor. Before long, everybody who had a partner was dancing with them, looking happier than ever. (Those who hadn't managed to get a partner in time had proceeded to pillage the buffet table.)

Alfred couldn't contain his laughter any longer and was laughing absurdly at Arthur, who was still ridiculously attempting to dance properly.

Alfred leaned in close and whispered, "Just follow my lead." Before Arthur could process the thought however, Alfred was whispering slowly to him, "One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four…" as he led him along the dance.

Arthur scowled. "Idiot. I don't need your help." He hissed.

Alfred only grinned at him easily before whispering, "Just follow my feet. Here."  
He looked down and Arthur followed suit. "One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four…" Alfred whispered in time to the movement of their feet. Arthur didn't know why, but with Alfred whispering like that, he actually finally got the hang of the dance. He wasn't about to admit that though.

"See?" Alfred smiled up at him and Arthur's heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. "You've got it."

"Shut up, you bloody yank." Arthur hissed.

Alfred laughed and stared into Arthur's eyes. Arthur felt a jolt run along his body and his heart was pounding so hard against his chest he was surprised nobody could hear it yet. And suddenly, he was staring deep into the blue of those eyes, getting lost in it. A feeling of elatedness enveloped him and everyone around them disappeared. Arthur couldn't hear anything anymore and neither could he feel anything but the warm feeling of Alfred's hand in his. He could see nothing but Alfred, smiling handsome Alfred, as they spun around on the floor. All he wanted now was to keep going on like this, dancing with Alfred, being with Alfred. He didn't care about anything else now. He just wanted to live in this one single infinite moment and never let go. And it was in that moment, that one blissful happy moment, that Arthur was glad he had decided to come after all.

Suddenly, the music stopped abruptly and a loud rock song began to play. And the spell was broken. Arthur's face screwed into a look of disappointment (He had been hoping he could continue dancing with Alfred like that) but Alfred laughed and started doing a ridiculous dance number right there and then.

And Arthur couldn't help it. He laughed along with everybody else.

Alfred straightened up after his little dance and beamed at Arthur, who chuckled and smiled back.

"Hey!" Alfred said, laughing. Arthur frowned and furrowed his eyebrows at him. "What?"

"You smiled!" Alfred said, grinning goofily. Arthur felt himself going pink and he looked away, arms crossed over his chest. "I-I, well…you look ridiculous, that's why!"

Alfred laughed and suddenly he was there, right in front of Arthur, only a few inches apart. Arthur felt a strange sensation in his gut as Alfred placed a warm hand on his cheek. Arthur felt himself shivering at his touch and his heart refused to sit still. He couldn't tear his eyes away from his eyes, his smile, his handsome face staring down at him.

"Don't stop." Alfred said, leaning forward. Arthur felt the heat rising to his neck and his face. "A-Alfred, what are you…"

"I like it when you smile." Alfred said, smiling. And suddenly, he was kissing him.

Kissing him right then and there.

Arthur could feel Alfred's warm lips on his own and there was not a better feeling in the world for him. They could hear people in the crowd of dancers cat-calling and whooping but they couldn't hear them anymore. The entire room dissolved around them and they grew deaf to every sound. They grew blind to everything but them and they grew senseless to everything but the warm feeling of their lips against each other.

When Alfred finally pulled apart, they were both as red as tomatoes. "I…uh…" Alfred said, scratching the back of his head. Arthur looked away, embarrassed. "Do you, um..wanna…?" Alfred jerked his thumb towards the open door of the Great Hall. Arthur looked up at him then he sighed and said, "Okay…"

Alfred grinned and before he knew it, he had grabbed his hand and was dragging him outside, through the great oak double doors and out into the clear evening air.

And in that moment, Arthur was glad that he came.

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**Oh god, this is so suckish and corny. I can't believe myself. This can't even be justified as a gift. Ahem. Anyways, this is one of four Christmas gift I have been writing for my real-life best friends.**

**This one goes to YurumiNotto. Merry (late) Christmas and happy new year, dude!**

**Yeah well, instead of giving you angst like I had originally planned, I decided to write something happy for a change and before I even knew it, my fingers were typing out a Hogwarts AU on an empty Word document and this is how it turned out. **

**I'm sorry, very sorry, for everything. This story is crap, yes it is. I doubt that it'll get much reviews but ah well, one can hope right? (Still though, I don't think this was really worth a whole month to wait for. You may say that I put myself down too much but really, this is just the way I feel about this terrible, crappy story)**

**Merry (late) Christmas once again and have a happy, prosperous new year!**

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**Here. Have a fun extra to make up for it:**

Elizaveta apologized hurriedly to Roderich before running towards the entrance hall, where Kiku was hiding around the corner and staring down at the screen of his magically modified camera.

"Did you get it?" Elizaveta said excitedly, hitching up her skirts to get to him more quickly. Kiku looked up at her and smiled, showing her what was on the screen.

Elizaveta's eyes widened when she saw it and she covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from squealing out loud. She started jumping around excitedly.

"Thank you, Kiku!" She said, clasping hands with the Japanese Ravenclaw. Kiku shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Well, I couldn't pass up the chance now, could I?"

"You are amazing." Elizaveta said, absolutely grinning with happiness. "Get me a copy immediately after the film's developed okay?"

"Sure." Kiku said as Elizaveta beamed and ran back into the Great Hall.

Kiku looked out through the double doors and what he saw there made his eyes widen. He shook his head as he raised his camera and snapped a picture. He smiled slyly as he looked down at the screen.

"Wait till Elizaveta sees this…"

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**I know. Kiku's so OOC ;A;. But well…**

**Guess what he saw Al and Art doing XDD. **

**Goodbye and out!**


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